The Downfall of Saddam Hussein — David Wilkerson

Thank you, Choir Orchestra. Now, if you've been coming to Times Square Church, you know that I have never, ever used this pulpit for political means. I've never come to you as a Republican or a Democrat, liberal or conservative, never preached politics, and we have preached the gospel of Jesus Christ.

War, Prophecy, and the Watchman's Warning

But, folks, the world is about to go into war. It's involving every nation on earth. And the Bible said God does nothing until he reveals his plans to his servants, the prophets. He said, I don't do anything.

Now, I've never claimed to be a prophet. I'm a watchman. But when it says his servants, the prophets, that includes watchmen. And they lay no claim to have heard voices or anything else. But the Holy Spirit has mandated me this morning to share with you what is coming.

This is a prophecy the Lord gave me, and I said, Lord, if you don't want me to give this, you can overrule me. Just send your glory down and take over the meeting and shut me down. But I have this compelling of the Holy Spirit to share with you why we're facing war and what this is about.

You know, if God doesn't share his heart with his people, then he is trivializing his own judgments. This is not a trivial thing. It involves all the nations of the world. And the Bible talks about the end times, that the Middle East and Israel is going to be the focal point.

And you can't tell me that something that could bring ultimate judgment on this nation and affect all of us, that God's going to hide it from us. He won't do that. I'm going to talk to you this morning about the downfall of Saddam Hussein.

I'm going to talk to you about it from my heart, and I'm going to talk it from the Word of God. Lord, help me. Lord, there are some that walk out of here and call this politics. But I know my heart, and I know what you've said to me.

And I pray, Lord Jesus, now that you anoint me, that there be nothing of flesh creeped into this Word. Let us hear what the Spirit has to say. We don't worship you as Democrats or Republicans or politicians.

We are ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are your servants. And Lord, we have a ear to hear what the Spirit has to say to your body. And I humble myself before you now. Lord, I acknowledge nothing more than your touch of God, your touch, your anointing.

In Jesus' name I pray, amen. I want to date this message before I start for the recordings. This is Sunday, February the 9th, 2003. And our nation is about to go to war with Iraq. This battle is not against the Iraqi people.

Saddam Hussein, Israel, and the Motives Behind the War

It's a war against a proud dictator who's obsessed with destroying Israel. He's obsessed with being the one hope for the Islamic terrorist regimes around the world. He has to figure it out that Syria can't do anything, they don't have the power.

Jordan can't do anything about Israel. The Palestinians are helpless. And he sees himself as the only hope to destroy Israel. Question, why is President Bush so obsessed with going into Iraq? What is the motivation?

Now, I'm not going to try not to raise my voice. I just want to get this out of my heart. I've prayed about this and I've asked the question why. I hear people say, well, he's trying to please his father, Senior Bush, who came against Iraq in Desert Storm and didn't complete the job, evidently, in the eyes of many people.

And he's trying to finish the job or trying to appease his father. Others say that it's because of oil, because we get a good percentage of our oil. I think I heard 14, 15 of our oil comes from Iraq.

It says because of oil. And others say, well, no, he's just a madman. Now, folks, I don't care what you think about Bush. I don't know the man. I've not talked to him. He came to our Teen Challenge Center in Midland, Texas.

And for the first time when he was running for president, acknowledged that he had given his heart to Jesus Christ. He'd been into alcohol and he had been delivered. We have the recording and our people tell me that he was very, very sincere in what he said.

And even from that time, he confessed us to be a born-again believer. And I want you to follow me closely. I don't think that President Bush can explain, even to his wife and his family, this inner compulsion that he has.

He has said he hates war. He said he's wept over the fact, the idea of sending our soldiers to the possible death. He said, I hate war. Now, what is this motivation? What is driving him? Now, you know from your Bible, and if you studied it at all, that God moves the hearts of kings and leaders as he did with the king in Esther's time.

Woke him up, wouldn't let him sleep. He moves and he motivates. And I believe that President Bush can't explain it. He's heard all of his commanders and others tell him the reasons why we need to go into Iraq.

But he cannot explain. I believe he's had sleepless nights. He said that the night of the election when the results were in question, he said God seemed to have spoken to his heart that God, for some reason, wanted him to be president for a season.

That there was a divine, it sounded like he was saying there was a divine destiny. Now, folks, I am not into politics. Not at all. I'm not asking you to even admire Mr. Bush. I'm not asking you to change your politics or anything.

I'm going to take you into the Bible and show you what this is all about this morning into the Word of God. And I can tell you on the authority of God's Word that President Bush has been moved upon by the Spirit of God.

He's been moved upon beyond his own comprehension. In this time in history, God has laid hold upon him to use him as a rod against an incarnated devil who is out to destroy the nation of Israel. This is the whole purpose.

Hitler, Antisemitism, and the Biblical Pattern of Opposition to Israel

It always has and always been. It's the very same spirit that possessed Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler took one nation after another. He conquered one nation after another. The first thing he did was to set up concentration camps and crematories to cremate the Jews.

The world dominion was not it. The devil came down. You see, Satan has always hated the Jewish people because Christ came out of the Jewish nation. Christ was a Jew. And he then goes after the seed, those who are God's people.

He goes after the seed. And his whole goal was to eliminate all Jews from the face of the earth. He nearly eliminated all from out of Germany and he was going into Russia. God stopped him at Russia, at the border of Russia, or he would have eliminated three more, a million Jews.

He eliminated five million Jews, killed them, burned them. And I would like to take every preacher in America and around the world to those concentration camps, Auschwitz and others. I've been there and looked at the hundreds of thousands of glasses and little suitcases and little pieces and teeth and go through those gas chambers and those crematories and listen the historical cry, the wailing of millions of Jews, wailed as they were sadistically tortured.

And then tell me there are no just wars. Tell me that there shouldn't have been a war against Adolf Hitler. If you know your Bible, there are wars in the Old Testament that God commanded. There are just wars.

There are reasons for wars. You can hate the concept of war. Yes, and God's a God of love, but also the Bible said the last days he's going to come down when it's all over. He's going to come down with his armies and there's going to be a great final war and he's going to conquer all of his enemies, the scripture says.

You can't believe your Bible and know or believe your Bible if you don't believe there are just wars. This same spirit that was in Hitler to annihilate the Jews goes all the way back to Esther, the book of Esther.

You know the story. There was another Saddam, his name was Haman. And what was the object of Haman? What was the one goal? He was a world leader, the second most powerful man on earth at the time. And he persuades King Azarius that the Jews were in rebellion and that they didn't believe the laws of the land.

And he said, I want permission to kill every Jew in the empire. And that was all the way from what is now Russia to Ethiopia. And he wanted to send messengers with the mandate to kill on a certain day.

The whole world would rise up and kill every Jew, every man, every woman and every child. Esther 3 .8 says, let me destroy them. He devised a plan and put it in motion, sent messengers speeding throughout all the empire.

Probably by horseback at the time. He went through and these were the very words, he said, destroy, kill and cast to perish all Jews, both young and old. That's Esther 3 .12 and 13. And only divine intervention saved the Jewish people.

God exposed this plan. God would not let the king sleep. He didn't understand the motivation, but it was the Holy Spirit at work, the Spirit of God. And of all things, he calls for one of his men to go into the record.

Can you imagine going into the department of records and he says, just pick out any book and bring it, I can't sleep. And just put me to sleep reading these dull records. And the man just goes in to the national library and he picks out a book.

And the king says, just open it and start reading. And it's the story of Mordecai, a Jew, who exposed the plan to kill the king. And he said, hey, has anyone ever awarded this man? And you know the story of how God miraculously exposed it.

And Haman was immediately hung on the same gallows that he intended to kill Mordecai. You see, this goes all the way back to Esther. Hitler did kill five million Jews. But God stopped him before he could kill all of Europe.

And then he was moving into South Africa and going into Africa and was going to do the same all through Africa. Now, I listened to the Secretary of State Colin Powell on radio before the Security Council of the United Nations explaining why America and its coalition had to go into Iraq.

It was very convincing. But let me ask you a question. Why would this madman stockpile so many tons of anthrax, poison gases, germ warfare, and spend billions of dollars now trying quickly to build one nuclear bomb?

One. What would motivate a man? It's not the United States. He can't build anything to hurt us. No, he can send somebody in, tear us with a suitcase and germ warfare. But see, he's not angry at us because of any other reason but that we have the only power and the will to defend Israel.

We're the only ones that can stop him. The only nation. Bush is the only man on earth that can do it. He's the only power left on earth that can stop this man. These germs, everything else, these are designed for Israel.

The Islamic cause. The terrorist Islamic cause. And I'm going to tell you something. There are very few Muslims on the face of this earth, and I say it as loving as I know how, but even in the most domesticated, civilized Muslim, deep in the heart, there is this hatred of Israel that Israel must be wiped out.

It's in the heart of every Islamic on the face of the earth. It's there. Where did it come from? It goes all the way back, all the way back, even to the time of Esther. It came out in Hitler, and now it has come out in Saddam.

There's a growing anti-Semitism, even in the Pentecostal charismatic circles today. Evangelicals and others. A growing, fast growing anti-Semitism. And it is being taught that this cannot possibly be about Israel because God has given up on Israel.

That God no longer has a covenant with Israel because they broke it. And that they are no more, that Israel is no more important in the eyes of God than any other nation. And that the Jews have nothing to do now with history, has nothing to do with final events.

And that the church has replaced Israel. But folks, that's shaky because the scripture says, Paul the Apostle says, have God cast away his people? God forbid, Paul said. For I also am an Israelite. In other words, I'm a Jew.

And the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. Now, they say, well, Christians are the seed of Abraham. Yes, but not from the tribe of Benjamin. He's pinpointing, I am a Jew from the tribe of Benjamin.

God has not cast away his people, which he foreknew. Even so, at this present time also, there's a remnant according to the election of grace. And he goes on to say, yes, they stumbled. Yes, they broke the covenant.

But God still has not given them up. God has not given them up. Now, I'm going to tell you something. Every scripture that is used... Now, listen closely, because you're going to hear tapes. You can sit there and listen to this.

And the spirit of anti-Semitism will grip your heart and root you. It'll cost the blessing of God in your life. Listen very, very closely. God has blessed this church. When God told me to come to New York City and establish this church, He said, you're to warn about coming judgments.

Prepare the city. The city's going to go bankrupt. And find a holy remnant. And you could have communion every week. We do that ever since this church has been formed. And that we were to honor Israel.

And if we would honor Israel, God would bless us. We would have no debts. This church doesn't have one dollar of debt. But you see this growing anti-Semitism. Now, let me tell you, every scripture that is used to say that God is finished with Israel, we're still in force in Esther's time.

Now, listen to me now. Every scripture, say it again, every scripture that is used today that God has broken covenant with Israel, that had all happened before Esther's time. So all of those things were in force, the broken covenant, all of that, before Esther's time.

If God had given up on the Jew, why did He come and rescue them? So that not one man, not one woman, not one child was killed. Because He said, though they stumbled, they have not been forsaken. I want you to go to Zechariah, the twelfth chapter.

Jerusalem in Prophecy and the Nations Against Israel

Now, folks, probably within the next six weeks, this message is going to come back very strong to your heart. Zechariah, the twelfth chapter. Chapter 12. Beginning verse 1. The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, sayeth the Lord, which stretches forth the heavens, layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.

Now, listen closely. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege, both against Judah and against Jerusalem. In that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people.

All that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, till all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. I want you to go to verse 9. It shall come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

Now, tell me, has Israel become a cup of trembling to the whole world? Is Israel now under siege? And the Bible says, in that day, those that come against it, God makes it as clear, there's nothing clear in the word of God.

I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege, both against Judah and against Jerusalem. I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people.

You know, the United Nations doesn't know what to do. It's baffled. A burdensome stone. Burden. All the peoples of the earth. That's where we're at right now. Very awesome time. When this happens, I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

Biblical Precedent and God’s Deliverance of Israel

Now, folks, we can understand the past only, we can know the future only by understanding the past. We can look into this in the future, in the next few months especially, only by understanding what's happened in the past.

Every true prophecy has to be backed up by biblical precedence. In other words, this is what God did in the Old Testament and Paul the Apostle said, all of these things in the Old Testament have happened as examples and lessons for us, upon whom the ends of the world have come.

In other words, he said, do you want to know what's coming in the future? Go into the Old Testament and look at the pattern, look at the precedence, the things that have happened, God's nature, the way He works.

And if you understand biblical precedence, you'll understand that never in Bible history, never in the history of this world has God ever allowed an intimidating nation set out to destroy Jews. No nation has ever survived, no leader has ever survived to try to eliminate the Jewish nation or the Jewish people.

It's never been allowed and God will not allow it now. I want to take you into the book of Isaiah and I want to show you how specific God is. I want to show you how clearly God speaks to our time. Isaiah spoke to our time as much as any old prophet in the Bible.

The 33rd chapter of Isaiah, Isaiah 33. I'm going to read just the first verse and I'm going to read it from the original Hebrew Spirel's original Hebrew and you follow me along in your Bible. If you have King James, whatever Bible you have, follow along.

In essence, the same thing but I'm reading from original Greek. Verse 1. Woe unto thee, O spoiler, even thou who hast not been spoiled, and thou deceiver, whom none hath dealt deceitfully with thee. When thou hast ceased to spoil, shall thou be spoiled.

When thou shall make an end to thy treacheries, shall they deal treacherously with thee. Now look this way please and I'm going to show you what that means. The prophet Isaiah is speaking about the time when the Assyrian Empire came against Israel.

Sennacherib was the Saddam of his day. History tells us about the year 700 B .C. He came against Israel. Isaiah is referring to the time the Hezekiah came at the invitation of Sennacherib and his commanders to Nineveh the capital and calling for peace treaty.

Ambassadors were sent by Hezekiah to the capital to Nineveh to sign in fact this king and the Assyrians offered a non-aggression pact with them if they would pay a certain amount and Hezekiah nearly stripped the nation of Israel including the house of God of all the gold and sent it to Sennacherib and a treaty was signed.

It's very clear from history as reading historical background of Sennacherib the Saddam of his day. In fact the Bible calls him a man of deceit of trickery, treachery a man who made agreements and didn't keep them a man who was possessed with the desire and the will to wipe out Israel go to Jerusalem and burn it to the ground and no sooner had he signed a pact with the Jews.

The Bible said the ambassadors came home weeping because plans were already underway to come against Jerusalem. The Bible said they dealt deceitfully. They smiled at the ambassadors and invited them in and then they came back and surrounded Israel.

We read in Isaiah the 7th verse 33 -7. The messengers of peace wept bitterly. You see you cannot negotiate with any spirit. You cannot negotiate with any spirit that comes out of hell. Impossible to negotiate.

You can't do it. In fact under President Clinton Israel made concessions. They were going to give away East Jerusalem. They were going to allow it to be the capital of the Palestinian state. Remember Arafat turned it down.

You cannot negotiate with that which comes from the spirit of hell that which is born out of deceit and intimidation. You can't do it, it's impossible. Is it impossible now to negotiate by the inspectors that have been sent in by the United Nations into Iraq.

Here's what the whole issue. God is going to once again miraculously deliver his people as he did in the time of Esther. He's going to deliver Israel. I'm going to tell you in a few moments what this has to do with you and me and the church and the body of Jesus Christ.

And here's a message from Isaiah, from God's heart he's saying, hold on to you the spoilest. And you were not spoiled. You dealt treacherously and no one dealt treacherously against you. He said, you came against nations that didn't provoke you.

This is what happened in Kuwait. There's no provocation whatsoever. Saddam had to have a seaport to go against Israel. All of this that has happened is a satanic design. It's been that all along that Saddam who sickly, physically wants to die as a martyr.

He wants to be remembered in all of history as the man who destroyed Israel. Folks, it always has been about Israel and it always will be to the end. Israel is going to be the center point of the battle of Armageddon that is going to be in Israel.

Everything points to this happening in Israel. It's the key focus of every prophecy in the Bible of end times. And folks, we're getting close to that time because everything has to be focused, all the eyes of the nations have to be focused on Israel in the Mideast and that's happening now and in the middle of this God this decision is surrounded, God says enough.

Jerusalem is surrounded. It looks hopeless. And you remember what happened, God sent one angel and killed hundreds of thousands of that Assyrian army and God delivered. God moved in a supernatural way.

God raised up the Median Empire, the Medes and the Persians. They came down they came against Nineveh and destroyed Nineveh and suddenly, almost overnight, the Assyrian Empire was no more it was laying in ruins.

The Fall of Saddam and the Deception of Assyria

Out of that came the Neo-Babylonian Empire. I don't want a history lesson brother Dave this sounds a little like politics to me. No you see, God once again showed his mighty hand. Now let me show you what's going to happen now.

Is there going to be a war in Iraq now even if Saddam accepts Saudi Arabia's offer Saudi Arabia has offered to take in Saddam, his family and all of his relatives and all of his commanders all of his army officials and give them sanctuary in Saudi Arabia.

I understand. Gary was telling me he heard, it's on the internet they're trying to get a million people now that are praying that Saddam will resign or leave the country and go to another country probably Saudi Arabia or to Gaddafi's sanctuary.

He's been offered that sanctuary but you see Saddam is not the issue alone. His son is a greater killer than he is, but you see there's a spirit there, that spirit is still there. Whoever comes, it can be another commander it can be anyone that's not the issue alone, it goes beyond that.

God wants to deal with this spirit. God wants to put Israel back back into a place of security. Now let me tell you what's going to happen. Listen closely how clear the Bible is. This amazes me when what's going to happen just before there's Iraq is taken Iraq, the regime goes either by war folks, the regime is going to fall there's no question, Saddam is going to be no more, whether God takes him through suicide whether he takes sanctuary, he will die a physical death, God does not allow these men to live.

Never has and he never will. I don't wish that, I wish his salvation that I we have these biblical precedents. I just want this, what I feel rising in my heart. The Bible says according to Isaiah that the moment this spirit's going to be spoiled or destroyed they will come forth with the greatest treachery of all time.

It says this when thou shalt cease to spoil you shall be spoiled and interpreted simply this, when you come now with the biggest lie, the biggest deception of all that we have changed we have a change of heart we're going to open up our nation now we're going to open up all the books and this is what's going to happen, you watch, here's what's going to happen.

It'll probably be in your news tomorrow or this next week, you're going to find out that Iraq is going to say you can talk to all the scientists you want, you can do this, you can do that, you can have flyovers.

We have a change of heart because Saddam is going to try to win the sympathy of the whole world he's going to play this game that we are now open and still will be the greatest deception of all, and the bible said when you say that we have changed, when you cease you will be spoiled.

That's what the prophet is saying to the kingdom of Assyria and it's a bible precedence, and I want to read it again, and when thou shall make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee, in other words, you're going to reap what you sow, and when you tell finally that biggest lie, and everybody is thinking wow, there's a change of heart.

God says no, that's when I'm going to move against you see if I'm not right this next week, you listen to your radio read your newspaper and you're going to see this great supposed change then you're going to hear nation after nation say there's been a change of heart but God says no, I know the hearts of men, and I'm not going to allow this to continue anymore.

There's another issue, I want you to think back on Desert Storm now that was a partial victory only Saddam was allowed to stay in power. 503 oil wells were set on fire in Kuwait and I wrote in a book, in a prophetic book that I wrote 10 years before Desert Storm that there would be 500 fires in the mid east, no one believed me then I had a hard time believing it 500 fires and I said the mid east is going to be in flames.

And 10 years later 503 oil wells for the number the very number, 503 were raging out of control. He still had his poison gases. He was allowed to go on and prepare plans for building a nuclear bomb. It was only a partial victory.

But what did we do in America. What did we do. We paraded Schwarzkopf down Broadway with the ticker tape parade. We began to worship the God of Forces. Never in the history of America was there so much national pride and boasting.

And one commander said we are so precise we have such power now that we can thread a bomb through any chimney in Baghdad boasting on the precision and boasting on the power and the might. And now folks, you hear it coming out of Washington you hear it from our military forces we are the only superpower left on earth who is going to withstand us.

We don't need the rest of the world we can go against. We can go against Sudan. We can go against North Korea. We can wage two or three wars at a time. And that's the spirit. We didn't humble ourselves before God.

Only a passing mention of God from the White House down there was only lip service Congress, the military and we gloried in our might. And the Bible said pride goes before or destruction. The haughty spirit before fall.

The Bible said when pride cometh then cometh shame. And here's God's curse upon pride. I'll break the pride of your power. I will make your heaven then as iron and your earth as brass. Your land shall not yield its increase.

Neither shall the trees of your land yield their fruit. That's talking about a depression. And what happened the very month we came home. The United States went into a deep recession. And remember Clinton's thing.

It's the economy stupid. It was the economy. You see that was a partial victory. I'm going to ask you a question. We go into Iraq and there's a quick victory. And they're dancing in the streets now as the Afghans did when they were delivered from the Taliban.

Humility After Military Victory

And you see it on you see it all over the world. People in Iraq who've been kept under terror and held in the grip of this madman. And they're dancing in the streets and we have a victory. I'm going to tell you something folks.

And this is the heart of my message. If we come home and we are given victory in Iraq and it appears that's the biblical precedence that God will use America as a rod but just as sure as God used Babylon as a rod against Assyria.

When they went back and became proud and said we are the only world power. And in essence that's exactly what Babylon said. No one can touch us. We come home and we don't humble ourselves before God. We come home and we begin to worship again our military might and power.

You hear me folks there's another country right now that has bombs. It's called North Korea. And our military leaders right now are boasting we can handle it. And if President Bush did not come home from this battle with his head between his knees and thanking God not just little words but out before the whole world.

I give glory to God the power and the might.

Is God's not a lip.

Service not just a mention of his name. If he doesn't call the nation to humility and say we have got to trust in almighty God and get our direction from God. And if we don't humble ourselves folks we are going to be in a depression quicker than you can ever count it quicker than you can ever imagine.

God said I'll make your heavens as brass and your fields will not yield its fruit. God says I'll deal with you now. I'm going to close with this. We're commanded to do one thing. Maybe a lot of things you and I don't understand.

Prayer for Those in Authority

Do I believe there's going to be a war. Yes even if Saddam leaves the country five or six months this is all going to be history. And you may not have heard what I am trying to convey to you by the spirit of God.

This may be over your head. Much of it is over my head. But there's one thing we've been commanded to do. We're to pray for those in authority with supplications and prayer. And I'm going to call this church to prayer in just a moment.

We can't just sit by and complain. We can't. Just all of this calling politicians names is going to solve anything. There's no power in that. There's no authority in that. All of our power and authority is on our knees and in prayer seeking the face of God.

I'm going to ask you to join me in the annex here in the main auditorium when you came here you're visiting. I sure didn't expect anything like this. I sure didn't expect this week to bring anything like this.

I struggled all week and then just I had two or three different messages and there's something burning inside and I began to seek God with all my heart and say oh God we're about to go to war. Something is happening.

You're not going to hide this from us. What is it about. Okay folks I'm going to tell you once again God is going to work supernaturally in ways that we could not imagine. I want you to stand if you will please.

Holiness and Confidence in the Last Days

The Bible said seeing all these things that are coming. What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation. And that means in our life the way we live in light of what's coming. Folks the whole world is in fear.

The Bible said the last days men's hearts are going to fail them with fear watching and beholding those things that are coming so quickly upon the earth. There's a stability among those who have been seeking God and putting all their trust in Him and not in man so that there's no fear.

God said to his people I'm not giving you a spirit of fear but love and power and a sound mind. There's not to be any fear in the heart of God's people. I want to tell you something live or die we are the Lord's.

Live or die we are the Lord's. There's nothing that you own not your house, your furniture, your car. I don't care what kind of car you drive. I don't care how many clothes you have in your closet. It's all junk, it's all going to burn.

It means nothing. It means nothing whatsoever but the Bible predicts this is what I have to close this meeting with. I'm compelled by the Holy Spirit in the annex wherever you are hearing my voice. I've been with God and I've heard Him.

Falling Away, Spiritual Drift, and Returning to Christ

And I want you to know something right now in the midst of all this the Bible said there's going to be a great falling away. The closer we get to the coming of the Lord the harder some Christians are going to get in their hearts, there's going to be a drifting away from Christ.